Grammy Nominated Video Game Composer Austin Wintory Discusses Honor

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The video game composer will go up against Hollywood heavyweights at the Grammy Awards.

2013 Grammy-nominated Composer Austin Wintory will speak at the Grammy Museum on Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 11:00am. Wintory will discuss his history-making Grammy Award nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for the video game Journey since video games became eligible for the award in 1999. The young composer is nominated alongside Academy Award-winning composers John Williams (The Adventures Of Tintin - The Secret Of The Unicorn), Ludovic Bource (The Artist), Hans Zimmer (The Dark Knight Rises), Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), and Howard Shore (Hugo). The Journey score album debuted this past April on the Billboard Charts higher than any previous videogame score in history, and was the #1 soundtrack on iTunes all over the world. The 55th Annual Grammy Awards will air February 10, 2013 at 8/7c on CBS. Recently, Austin Wintory won “Best Original Score” for Journey at the Spike Video Game Awards and performed the Journey score at Video Games Live in Dallas, TX.

Austin Wintory is hailed by The Hollywood Reporter as one of 15 composers “primed to take their place on the A-list.” The twenty- eight year old has already amassed over 300 composing credits including over 40 features, a dozen video games, and numerous concert works. Wintory’s works have been performed by orchestras and chamber ensembles around the US and Europe. His accolades include a BAFTA nomination for flOw, two Hollywood Music in Media Awards for “Best New Composer” and “Best Original Score, Mobile Video Game,” and the Game Audio Network Guild Award for “Rookie of the Year.” flOw was recently honored at the Smithsonian Museum this spring as part of The Art of Video Games exhibit. His most recent film, A Little Help, starring Jenna Fischer (The Office), won “Best Feature” at several film festivals. Wintory was also a featured panelist at the Game Developers Conference earlier this year in San Francisco discussing his score for Journey.

Other accolades for Wintory include the Fangoria Chainsaw Award nomination for “Best Original Score” for the Sundance hit Grace, which was also named one of Vision in Sound’s Top Ten Scores for 2009. The Sundance Audience Award winner Captain Abu Raedput Wintory on the short list as a contender for the Academy Awards for “Best Original Score.” He was also nominated by the International Film Music Critics Association for “Breakout Composer of the Year.”

Wintory maintains a busy schedule writing concert music and composing/producing albums. Beyond composing, he is a strong advocate for music in schools, particularly in early education. Austin Wintory is an active member on the Board of Directors for Education Through Music Los Angeles.